Leftist group retracts responsibility for Istanbul suicide bombing

The police station is seen a day after a policeman was killed and another injured when a female suicide bomber blew herself up in Istanbul, Turkey, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015. Istanbul governor Vasip Sahin said the woman entered a police station and reported a missing wallet before detonating a bomb. The attack occurred in the Sultan Ahmet district, a popular tourist destination.(AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
(The Associated Press)

ISTANBUL – A Turkish leftist group has retracted its claim of responsibility for a suicide bombing at an Istanbul police station on Tuesday that killed an officer and wounded another.

In a statement, the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, or DHKP-C, said that it had been preparing another action and had mistakenly concluded that the bombing was the work of its members.

The group had identified the suicide bomber as Elif Sultan Kalsen. But Kalsen's family, who were called to a criminal medical center to identify the body, said it was not their daughter.

Some Turkish media have said the bomber was a Russian citizen of Chechen origin.